Parion (AD 68-69) AE 22 - Galba580 viewsGalba, 68-69 AD. AE22 (8.61g). GALBA CAESAR, bare head right / AVGVSTVS DD, capricorn right, cornucopiae over shoulder. Good VF, green patina. Very rare emperor in the Greek Imperial series; finest of three known specimens. Although commonly given the title CAESAR on his Imperial issues, this is the only instance of its appearance on Galba's rare provincial coins.

Augustus' sun sign was Libra. We don't know why he selected the Capricorn as his emblem. Perhaps Capricorn was either his rising sign or his Moon sign. Popular astrology (of the newspaper kind) is sun sign astrology. The ancients tended to attach more importance to the Moon sign and rising signs. Perhaps Augustus selected the Capricorn because it is associated with stern moral authority.

Parion (AD 253-268) AE 27 - Gallienus366 viewsGallienus, 253-268 AD. AE27 (10.31g, 12h). ILLP LICINN CR, laureate and draped bust right / C G I H PA, Aeneas, in military outfit, standing facing, head left, holding with his right hand Ascanius, who is standing at left, and cradling in his left arm Anchises, who has his right arm around Aeneas’ neck and holds the Penates in his left hand. Good VF, green and red-brown patina. Extremely rare. Ex Cain Coll.

Parion (BC 165-143) Tetradrachm517 viewsca 165-143 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 16.95 g 12). Laureate head of Apollo to right / AΠOΛΩNOΣ AKTAIOΥ ΠAΡIANΩN, Apollo, laureate and draped to the waist, holding laurel branch in his right hand and resting his left on bow propped on the ground behind; on the left, ΔI above flaming altar; on the far left, monogram of TEY. Extremely rare, the only known example from this reverse die. gVF. PGB coll., acquired in 1970s.

The only Parion Hellenistic tetradrachms known, until recently, was the extremely rare issue showing veiled head of Demeter on obv. and Apollo Actaeus on rev. holding a phiale above a lighted alter, his left hand resting on a lyre placed on the omphalos, SNG Lewis 829, SNG France 1401 (both broken); L. Robert, Monnaies antiques en Troade, Paris, 1966, p. 43, f. This new and until very recently unrecorded issue was published by A.R. Meadows, NC 1998, pp 42-46. He compares both issues to the coinage of Alexandria Troas and determined that the tetradrachm Apollo/Apollo should be dated at around 165-143 and the tetradrachm Demeter / Apollo at a later date.